Cyber Monday – Make Your Book Jump off the (Virtual) Shelves!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to reach consumers. Everyone is buzzing about the holiday season and what do people do during the holiday season? Buy.

Consumers will spend more money from now until Christmas than any other time of the year. As an author why not capitalize on readers buying sprees? Using the holiday season as a promotional springboard can be an ideal addition to your book marketing arsenal.

In recent years, “Cyber Monday” has gained popularity with consumers looking to do all of their holiday shopping from the comfort of their couches (or cubicles) following the craziness of Black Friday. Cyber Monday is an excellent time for your book to be noticed.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon is a popular stop for people doing their online holiday shopping. To help your book’s popularity and online sales, start by making sure your book is up on Amazon.

Have a clean Amazon page with a good, persuasive description of the book. Maybe add some testimonials to the page to give readers an even deeper look into your work. Sample chapters and other features from the book are great to showcase. Be sure to have the page be very consumer friendly.

Once your book is on Amazon or if it is on Amazon already, think of offering a special price on Cyber Monday--or even the whole weekend leading to Cyber Monday. Friday November 29 is Black Friday, Saturday November 30 is Small Business Saturday and Monday December 2 is Cyber Monday--all good reasons for a book sale.

Use social media and word of mouth marketing to let readers know you will be offering a special pricing option. Use the best line of communication to reach your audience—whatever social media platform you connect with your fans the most, a newsletter, etc.

Encourage readers to gift your book and e-Book. Print books make great gifts but for the technologically savvy reader, Amazon offers buyers a “gift your e-Book” option. To gift a book you just need the recipients email address and the date the buyer would like the book delivered.

by Brittney Karpovich, Marketing and Social Media Strategist, Smith Publicity

Smith Publicity is one of the leading book marketing firms in the world, with offices in the U.S. and Toronto. Since 1997, we’ve represented more than 3,000 authors worldwide, from New York Times bestsellers to first-time, self-published authors in every genre. Our fundamental driving force—superior presentation, promotion, and positioning of our authors—has never changed. Our mission statement is simple. "Make Good Things Happen for Authors."